Editor's Note:This excerpt from Are We There Yet? discusses the importance of quality childcare and preschools in transit-rich environments and the need for safe routes to school. Together these underscore that complete communities provide the elements that people need to thrive because they also provide the nexus where people can come together in a web of supportive relationships that enhance learning and promote an understanding and acceptance of diversity.
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Early childhood education is also identified as a key factor in setting children up for success. Quality preschools and daycare facilities in high-access locations have proven to be a real benefit to harried parents dropping kids off on their way to work. A study by Local Investment in Child Care, a California nonprofit organization, finds that locating childcare facilities within a third of a mile of transit results in high…

Richard Willson has made a name for himself in California and throughout the country as someone who knows about how parking interacts with transit and transit-oriented development (TOD). His work, along with that of Robert Cervero, has moved the needle forward and been cited in numerous county and city documents attempting to reverse the trend of over parking in urban centers and along transit corridors.

Editor's Note: School quality is only one measure of complete communities. This week's excerpt from Are We There Yet? looks at the non-school factors – neighborhood quality and safety, the availability of affordable transportation, and access to healthcare, after-school programs, open space and cultural assets, and parental involvement – that impact the opportunities of children to succeed.
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Test scores have become the most common method used to assess school quality, even though decades of social science research suggest there are other critical factors that will help determine whether a child succeeds. “The quality of schools can explain about one-third of the variation in student achievement whereas two-thirds is due to ‘non-school’ factors such as neighborhood quality and safety, the availability of affordable transportation, and access to healthcare, after-school programs,…

Editor's Note: In a knowledge-based economy, schools, early childhood education and quality childcare are important measures of complete communities. This week's excerpt from Are We There Yet? explores the correlation between quality education and future economic security and some of the steps communities are taking to ensure the prosperity of all residents.
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Access to good schools, early childhood education and quality childcare are integral to the idea of complete communities. The effect of education was monetized in the Low Income Investment Fund report “Coming Out As a Human Capitalist” cited at the beginning of this chapter. “There is broad consensus that education is the key that unlocks a child’s future,” write the authors. “A high school graduate will earn $270,000 more over his/her lifetime than a high school dropout. College graduates earn nearly twice (177 percent)…

The question of whether the everyday noise of urban life impacts life satisfaction or whether Milan's parks are too noisy to enjoy are explored in a pair of articles added to the Research Center best practices database.

Abstract
In 2003, Columbia University announced its plan to expand its Morningside Heights into a 17-acre area of West Harlem known as Manhattanville. The University’s expansion plan called for the acquisition and demolition of all but three buildings in the project’s footprint and the construction of a state of the art campus over a roughly 30-year period. This article examines the discourses, debates and politics surrounding the project and, in particular, the University’s demand for exclusive control of the site and ultimate pursuit of eminent domain. To that end, university officials claimed that the expansion would bolster the city’s knowledge based economy and, as a conse­quence, serve the “public good”— a requirement for the exercise of eminent domain. By contrast, critics of the project argued for a mixed-use redevelopment plan that would include affordable housing and other community-deined amenities.

Editor's Note: Lack of open space and of resources for new parks and public spaces has given rise to “tactical urbanism.” This week's excerpt from Are We There Yet? looks at the quick, cheap, often temporary interventions staged in order to make neighborhoods more lively and enjoyable.
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The cost of creating the average community park can run into millions of dollars, and finding new park land in existing communities, especially urban neighborhoods, is particularly tough. As a result, new parks and especially small “pocket parks” are sprouting up in unlikely places, including landfills, rooftops, reservoirs and even cemeteries.
The new park that everyone has been talking about is in the most improbable of places. New York City’s High Line park is built on an abandoned elevated rail line that once brought freight cars into the factories and warehouses that lined the streets of…

A study of energy production along the Green Line light rail corridor in the Twin Cities and the potential for linking energy islands to create a more efficient regional system has been added to the Resource Center best practices database.